The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector having a pair of board locks which can prevent the electrical connector rotation when the electrical connector is soldered onto the printed circuit board (PCB).
Computers are widely used in the fields of E-commerce, E-business, Home network, internet workstation and so on. Each computer has a data storage center, e.g. hard disk, where computer software and business data information are saved. When the computer runs, the computer Central Processing Unit (CPU) continuously accesses the hard disk and takes data from the hard disk or saves data to the hard disk. The CPU is commonly connected to the hard disk via flat flexible cables (FFCS) and FFC connectors assembled to opposite ends of the FPCS. For compatibility, the hard disk driver interfaces are standardized. There are many hard disk driver interface standards and the SCSI families and ATA families are the most famous in the last decade. The electrical connector used in hard disk driver must comply with the corresponding interface standards. An organization, called the Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) Working Group and set up by APT Technologies Inc, Dell Computer Corporation, International Business Machines, Intel Corporation, Maxtor Corporation, Quantum Corporation, and Seagate Technology released a specification to define the SATA interface and the corresponding connectors. The specification defines a first type of SATA connector connecting to a cable and a second type of SATA connector mounting to a printed circuit board (PCB).
The second type of SATA connector defined by the specification includes an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts received in the housing. The housing provides a guiding post on each one of two opposite side faces of the housing for guiding the connector to mate with a mating connector. The housing also provides a retention portion on each of the opposite side faces connected to a corresponding guiding post. Since the guiding post is connected to the corresponding retention portion, the retention portion must further outwardly extend a certain distance beyond an outermost surface of the guiding post to provide a base for retaining the corresponding board lock. However, because the guiding post is connected to the corresponding retention portion, the retention portions must further outwardly extend a certain distance beyond an outermost surface of the guiding post to provide a base for retaining the corresponding board lock. Thus, the connector has a relatively larger dimension. This design does not answer for the small dimension requirement in computer industry. In order to meet the small dimension requirement, many designs have been made. Such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,122 B1. However, the board lock of this Patent is too thin and when the electrical connector is soldered onto the PCB, the board lock cannot prevent the electrical connector from rotation effectively.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved electrical connector having a reduced longitudinal dimension.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved electrical connector having a board lock with an improved structure.
To achieve the above objects, an electrical connector for mating with a mating connector includes an insulative housing having a base portion, a pair of guiding portions extending upwardly from opposite ends of the base portion, a pair of mounting sections under the grounding portions, a plurality of contacts received in the housing, and a pair of board locks mounted to the mounting sections of the housing. Each board lock comprises a main base abutting against a bottom face of the mounting section, a first beam extending upwardly from a first edge of the main base and securely retained to the mounting section, a pair of second beams extending upwardly from opposite sides of the main base and securely retained into the mounting section, the second beams being opposite to each other and perpendicular to the first beam, a pair of retaining legs extending downwardly from a second edge of the main base opposite to the first edge for mounting the connector to a printed circuit board.